March 2012

Car Wash at Bernie's Automotive in Ballard
Bernie's Automotive
4420 Leary Way NW
Saturday, April 7th, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Come get your car washed by the lovely ladies of Chi Omega! Come out and support our Miss Greek contestant and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Cost is on a donation basis but a $10 donation is strongly encouraged.

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206 937 7169
We have a good selection of Easter decorations at 50% off, April 1st - April 8th.  Easter egg surprise discount can save you even more.  Blue tags are 50% off, April 1st - April 21st.  High school students receive a 50% discount every Saturday in April with student I.D. card!  Early bird shoppers get double stamps on their customer cards Mondays from 10 to noon and seniors get 20% off their entire purchase all day Tuesday.  The all volunteer run American Cancer Society shop is open Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and all other days from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Remember, when you shop and volunteer with us you are part of our quest to find a cure for cancer because all our proceeds support cancer cure research.

You guys keep him
Store security at a supermarket on the 4700 block of 42nd Ave S.W. watched a man grab several packs of batteries and stuff them down the front of his pants on March 19, prompting them to confront the suspect after he paid for a bottle of water and tried to leave. The battery thief was uncooperative and attempted to flee, but security grabbed him and held on tight. The suspect began to “swing his arms violently” and punched a security officer several times in the face before a citizen stepped in and helped the guard subdue and handcuff the suspect. Back at the Southwest Precinct the suspect admitted to taking the batteries but denied hitting the guard. A warrant check revealed the man had a felony warrant with the Los Angeles Police Department for “Dangerous Drugs.” It came up the man had been arrested several times in Seattle in the past, but each time the LAPD decided not to extradite him.

“Don’t kill me, take whatever”

Baseball:

The Beavers baseball team recovered from last week's loss by getting a win over Liberty on Friday night.

The first two innings were scoreless but in the third inning, the Beavers stared bringing runners across the home plate, scoring one run in the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh inning.

The Beavers had eight hits off the Liberty pitchers while Liberty only got two hits off Ballard pitcher Paul Crane.

Ballard won 4 to 0.

LAX:

The Ballard boys lacrosse team played Roosevelt on Saturday in a close match.

Roosevelt gave the Beavers some tough competition in Saturday night, leaving the game undecided as the final whistle came, sending it into overtime.

John DeGarmo secured the victory for Ballard with his overtime goal.

Jacob Marks had 3 goals and 4 assists. Johnn DeGarmo had 3 goals, 1 assist. Jackson Bowen also had 3 goals. And goalie Alex James made 12 saves.

Soccer:

Boys soccer hosted Newport on Friday night at the Interbay Stadium. After a 0-0 90-minute match, Newport scored in overtime.

With a lack of garages, parking is limited in Ballard. Yet Ballardite Frank Meyer found a simple and affordable way of dealing with a lack of garage space -- a car bag.

And hiding underneath this big mysterious grey package along NW 57th Street is a car collector's dream: a 1958 MG Magnette.  

Black with chrome detailing, wire wheels, and wooden interior, the car is "a beautiful example of an old car," said Meyer. "It's an English car. When it runs, it runs good. When it doesn't, it doesn't run at all. Typical English car - real temperamental."

The car's temper is why Meyer keeps a modern car around for everyday tasks.

"You just can't depend on a British car that much," Meyer said. "It's my fair-weather car."

Meyer found his MG when he was looking around on Craigslist for an old car in 2004.

"I had never even seen a MG Sedan before. I went to go look at it and bought it on the spot," he recalled.
Meyer has loved old cars since her was a kid. At 16 he dreamed of one day owning a hot rod. And today, a hot rod is still his dream car, said Meyer with a boyish smile.

press release:
The West Seattle Solar Project (www.thewestseattlesolarproject.com) is a new and innovative group purchase project aimed at helping West Seattle residents and businesses save time and money in the process of going solar.

The West Seattle Solar Project (WSSP) is the first campaign of The Cascadia Solar Project (www.thecascadiasolarproject.com), whose mission is to jumpstart and dramatically increase the number of PV installations around the Puget Sound, especially in neighborhoods where few installations currently exist.

The project provides a streamlined process for residents and small businesses to register, learn, and purchase solar systems as a group. All systems will use Made-In-Washington modules and inverters, and all participants will receive the same low $/watt price. The only major variables will be system size and whether or not the customer wants financing.

The project that began 10 years ago to restore community pride and make White Center a nice place to live, Spring Clean 2012 is coming up May 19. It will run from 8:30am to 2:30pm

Now under new leadership with CDA Executive Director Sili Savusa, the event is expected to see a major turnout.
“As a resident of White Center for over 15 years, I have always been excited about this signature event for our community,” said Sili Savusa, White Center CDA Executive Director. “Spring Clean is a time for our neighborhoods to show their support of local schools, parks, businesses and public space that we all use and cherish. It is also a reason for people outside of White Center to explore and be a part of this great community.”

Last year more than 600 volunteers turned out for Spring Clean to tackle such diverse projects as mural painting, graffiti removal, litter collection, gardening, and parks clean-up.

They covered 70 neighborhood blocks and completed over 20 individual beautification projects developed by local residents and groups.

Matt Tilton of Tilton Fine Metalsmithing is on a team working to produce this year’s signature project.

Super Saver Foods in White Center is in the process of remodeling the former Albertsons store at 10616 16th Ave s.w. and will roll out their grand opening "over a three week period" likely in May or early June according to General Manager for Saar's Marketplace John Hames. "We do giveaways, we give groceries away. It will be an event and there will be something happening every weekend. We're excited to be in White Center."

Hames spoke to the West Seattle Herald/White Center News on Monday, Mar. 26 and talked about what kind of company Super Saver Foods is and the differences people can expect when the visit.

"Super Saver Foods is a concept that we've been working on, "said Hames, " and White Center really is the best place for us to open it. As a company we really rely more on "deal" merchandise and in our aisles you'll see a lot more specials and values than you would in a normal grocery store. The Albertsons store was a conventional grocery store. We're a little less conventional."

Burien City Council members are likely on Monday, April 2 to request an Aug. 7 election date for annexation of White Center and North Highline.

The King County Council formally sets the election date at the request of the City Council.
Only voters within the proposed annexation area will vote on the measure. Burien voters will not have a say in the election.
If the North Highline voters approve annexation, the unincorporated area will most likely become part of City Manager Mike Martin told council members on March 19 that he has "professional certainty" that the $5 million per year sales tax credit promised to Burien if it annexes White Center and North Highline will remain.

He said none of the budget proposals coming out of the Legislature's regular session or special session contemplate removing the credit.
"It's not on anybody's list," Martin declared.

Several Burien residents spoke against annexation on March 19 while a few North Highline residents said they favored Burien annexing the area.

A sailboat cut too close to the Three Tree Point shoreline and ran aground Saturday. It was uprighted and sailed off when the tide came back in. The vessel was part of a race around the Burien point.

Please click the image above for more photos by Ken Smith.

By Greg McCorkle, Contributor

Ballard's Viking Robotics won the Seattle Olympic regional Robotics Competition on Saturday by a scant two points in a very close and competitive round over an alliance led by Aviation High School Skunkworks team from Des Moines.

”I’m kind of speechless” was the quote from the Vikings team adult mentor Craig Nielsen. “Your body does all this quivering and a bunch of other stuff. You know it’s winning the state championship, our kids are amazing. It’ll sink in later.”

The Skunkworks team from Aviation High School in Des Moines was the favorite in this year’s competition and going into the final round did look like they were going to win, but Viking Robotics kept banging away and in the end a missed shot at the basket by Skunkworks was the difference in the outcome.

Congratulations to the Ballard High School team and all the other teams that competed in this year’s Seattle FIRST Robotics Competition.